Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is a Supersized Future Phone

Like your phones big with mad not-quite-sure-why-it's-here-but-it-looks-awesome features on them? Then feast your eyes on the now-official Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Samsung's phablet-sized flagship for the second half of the year.

Carrying promisingly along on in the risk-taking footsteps of the Note Edge and S6 Edge, it's a supersized Android phone with a strip of touch-sensitive screen down its side that (while a little bit pointless in practice), sure looks like the future when sat next to other top-tier smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus Specs

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus has a 5.7-quad HD Super AMOLED display (up from the 5.1-inch S6 Edge) which curves around to the side of the handset, its key USP against the competition. With a resolution of 2560 x 1440, that leaves it with a super-sharp 518ppi, making side-displayed shortcuts and notifications easily legible.

Concerns kick in when it comes to memory and battery life however. 32GB and 64GB options will be available (pricing TBC), but there's no sign of microSD card support at the moment, so you're going to have to settle with whatever's initially tucked under the hood. The original S6 Edge didn't support microSD either, but was also offered in a premium 128GB configuration.

Its battery though, compatible with both wired and wireless fast charging systems, makes the jump up from 2600mAh to a 3,000mAh capacity. Hopefully that will be enough to power the larger, pixel-dense display for long stretches (the S6 Edge has a habit of wheezing out before the day is done, and both are using the same chipset).

On the software side of things, the most interesting addition is Samsung Pay, Samsung's answer to Apple Pay, which lets you link a credit card to your phone, allowing the handset to make payments. These are carried out with the S6 Edge Plus's NFC chip and a very clever MST (magnetic secure transmission) system, which lets Samsung Pay work anywhere a card-swiping terminal is present. That's basically everywhere. authenticated in part through use of the phone's fingerprint scanner. Improvements to Samsung's Knox security suite will ensure no encrypted data falls into the wrong hands. Samsung Pay may have the edge of Apple's system in time thanks to the systems "universal" merchant acceptance in the UK. As well as using NFC tech, Samsung Pay also supports MST tech, similar to that used when swiping a magnetic card strip. Practically all UK terminals are equipped with that, and a tap of the S6 Edge Plus will take advantage of it.

A few updates have been made to the Edge UX too, with the ability to poke other Edge users, quick-send pictures and...erm...shower them with leaves. Lots of it is a bit gimmicky, and the more interesting features will be limited to Edge-to-Edge phone interactions.

Around the back, you've got a 16MP OIS camera, and up front there's a 5MP selfie snapper with which to indulge your narcissism.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus UK Price and Release Date

No word yet on pricing, but expect it to cost a bomb – the 32GB S6 Edge had an RRP of £669 off-contract, so you'll need to save those pennies. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus UK release date is set for September 4th, with pre-orders opening on August 18th. Not much has changed from the S6 Edge for this Plus-sized model, but if you crave the "mostest of everything" phone, this ticks the boxes. We'll be going hands-on shortly, so keep an eye out for our first impressions.